Le Mans: Penultimate round preview

Five go racing
Penultimate meeting of the season, the Le Mans round will be critical in
deciding the outcome of the title. There will undoubtedly be winners and
losers among the five leaders at the Bugatti circuit. But who from Andy
Soucek ...

Five go racing

Penultimate meeting of the season, the Le Mans round will be critical in
deciding the outcome of the title. There will undoubtedly be winners and
losers among the five leaders at the Bugatti circuit. But who from Andy
Soucek (Interwetten.com), Borja Garcia (RC Motorsport), Pastor Maldonado
(Draco Multiracing USA), Alx Danielsson (Comtec Racing) and Alvaro
Parente (Victory Engineering) will still be in the title race at the end
of the French round of the World Series by Renault?

Four drivers were neck and neck before the Donington round. And now there
are five! Thanks to a clean sweep in the UK, Danielsson has moved up
alongside the group of leaders, with Soucek, Garcia, Maldonado and
Parente.

The top five drivers are separated by a mere 14 points, a narrow gap when
you consider that there are still 68 points up for grabs. Although he did
not finish among the leaders in the UK, Andy Soucek collected points in
both races, which means that he goes into the French round as
championship leader.

Five points back in second place, Borja Garcia has still not won a race
this season. But he has put his faith in consistency, and his approach
has paid dividends so far! In contrast, despite collecting three wins,
Pastor Maldonado has been let down by his lack of consistency. Five DNFs
in thirteen races have left the Venezuelan in third place.

Unlucky in Spa, Danielsson's confidence was given a boost at the
Nurburgring before he then went on to take the Donington meeting by
storm. The Swedish driver's confidence is now at its peak. He has moved
back into the leading group and now has a genuine chance of claiming the
overall title.

After arriving in Donington as joint championship leader, Alvaro Parente
ended the weekend in fifth, having failed to score a single point. A
below par effort, but the Portuguese driver remains a potential champion.

After getting his season off to the perfect start in Zolder -- where he won
both races -- Eric Salignon has been off the pace ever since. Soucek has
moved above Salignon at Interwetten.com, who lead the Team standings. The
Carpentras-based driver may well be able to take advantage of his local
knowledge, to return to winning ways and get back in the title race in the
process!

There are two other French drivers taking part in the World Series this
season. After missing out at the Nurburgring, Patrick Pilet returned to
racing in Donington with the rapidly improving Tech 1 Racing team. His
car's setup was improved throughout the weekend and the man from Gers is
confident for Le Mans.

Garcia's team-mate at RC Motorsport Bruce Jouanny has had a difficult
season. But the Parisian was once again in the top ten in the green
English countryside. Significant progress for Bruce which has more to do
with hard work than luck!

With no less than sixteen drivers who have finished on the podium at
least once this season, it is difficult to list all the potential
winners. But worth a mention are South African driver Adrian Zaugg
(Carlin Motorsport), the Yugoslavian Milos Pavlovic (Draco Multiracing
USA), the Canadian Sean McIntosh (KTR) and British driver Ben Hanley
(Cram Competition), who were the most impressive in Donington.